Dr.Enrica Piccardo is an Associate Professor with the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning, and a member the Centre for Educational Research in Languages and Literacies at OISE. Her research is centred around French as a second and foreign language, the impact of the Common European Framework of Reference on language teaching and assessment, complexity theories and creativity, plurilingualism, and cognitive and emotional aspects of language acquisition.

Through her research and investigation, Dr. Piccardo has made a link to the crucial, though elusive, relationship between humanism and mainstream education. Using the lens of complexity theories, she investigates the links between cognitive, emotional, and social aspects within the teaching and learning processes as applied to foreign language pedagogy, teacher development, and the structuring of curricula. Her research focuses on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and on its impact on the process of language teaching and learning, in particular on the conceptualization and implementation of a plurilingual and action-oriented approach. In this role, she has actively contributed to the work of the Council of Europe as a core member of the recent Project coordinated by Brian North aimed to develop descriptors for the category "Mediation" in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Enrica Piccardo graduated in 1985 from the Università degli Studi di Genova (Italy) where she specialized in modern Languages (German, English and French) and obtained her Laurea Summa cum Laude with a thesis in German Literature and Theatre Studies on contemporary German theatre.

She taught in Austria, Germany and Italy extensively. She taught different foreign languages: Italian, German, French and English. In 1996 she was appointed by the Italian Ministry of Education as in-service Teacher Developer. In 1999 she worked as an Instructor at the University of Genoa in the Initial Teacher Education Program. At the same time, she started her binational doctoral research (thèse en co-tutelle) in Second/Foreign Language Education at the Università degli Studi di Brescia (Italy) and at the Université de Technologies de Compiègne (France).

In 2004, she was appointed to a faculty position of "Maître de Conférences" (Associate Professor) at the Université Grenoble Alpes (France), where she continued working as a tenured faculty member.

In 2009, she was hired as Assistant Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) - University of Toronto (Canada) in the Languages and Literacies Program of the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning and in 2010 the School of Graduate Studies granted her the full status in the Faculty of Education.
In 2014, she was tenured and promoted to Associate professor

Dr. Piccardo is the Director of the Centre for Educational Research in Languages and Literacies (CERLL). She is also associate member of the Centre de Recherche IMAGER of the Université Paris EST Créteil UPEC

Teaching Overview

Dr. Piccardo has a vast and international teaching experience both at the Graduate and Undergraduate level in the domain of Second/Foreign language Education and Teacher Development. An expert of the Common European Framework of References for languages of the Council of Europe (CEFR), she has lectured internationally about language education, teacher education and the CEFR. She has collaborated extensively with the Council of Europe in several research projects, in particular she has coordinated two projects for the European Modern Language Center (one ongoing). She is presently the principal Investigator of two SSHRC funded international projects (QualiCEFR and LINCDIRE). She is fluent in Italian, French, German, and English and has taught, lectured and/or held workshops in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria.
As an Associate Professor (Maître de Conférences) she taught different courses in the Initial Teacher Education program at the Université Grenoble Alpes - France

Dr. Piccardo currently teaches at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto the following Graduate programs:

Multicultural Education in the Foreign Language Class
Evaluation and the CEFR in the Foreign Language Class
Teaching Foreign Languages to Primary School Children
Integrating ICT in foreign language education (French as a foreign language)
Foundations of foreign language methodology for secondary school language education (French, English and German as a foreign language)
CLIL methodology
English foreign language
French as a foreign language
German as a foreign language

North, B. & Piccardo, E. (2016). Developing illustrative descriptors of aspects of mediation for the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). A Council of Europe project. Language Teaching 49(3), 1-5.

2016-2018
European Modern Language Center: Council of Europe
Title: A Quality Assurance Matrix for CEFR Use
90,000 €
QualiCEFR: Quality in the implementation of the Common European Framework of Reference

This study compares CEFR implementation in two contexts (Switzerland and Canada) and employs a QA approach; QualiCEFR will provide stakeholders with the know-how and framework to conduct QA-informed feasibility and impact studies in their contexts. The research involves two main phases:

1) Comparative phase: identifying and mapping out CEFR-related initiatives in the two countries that can be replicated and upscaled;

2) QA phase: (a) identifying and develop relevant procedures, and indicators for QA-informed implementation of the CEFR, and (b) organize such procedures and indicators into a template that language education stakeholders will be able to use in their contexts.

2015-2017
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council - Insight development Grant
Title: QualiCEFR
70,494 CAD
This project promotes effective language learning by supporting teachers and other language education professionals in their use of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). It will provide a practical tool and suggest clear, coherent, and relevant procedures to facilitate planning, teaching and assessment. Furthermore, the project will enhance reflective practices at the classroom, school and policy-making levels.

2015-2018
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council - Partnership development Grant
Title: LINguistic and Cultural DIversity REinvented (LINCDIRE): A digital environment to help learners navigate their trajectories
186,981 CAD + 186.981 CAD (partners)

LINCDIRE, LINguistic and Cultural DIversity Reinvented, is a 3-year collaborative research project with Canadian, American, and French institutions: M’Chigeeng First Nation School, Institute for Innovation in Second Language Education, University of Toronto, University of Toronto Schools, University of New Brunswick, York University, University of Ottawa, Columbia University, and University of Grenoble. The goal of this project is to design and implement an online tool called LITE: Language Integration through E-portfolio (LITE). LITE will be used in language classrooms in primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions to enhance and maintain diversity by interconnecting a plurality of languages and cultures, including Aboriginal and heritage languages.

2013-2015
University of Toronto Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Institutional Grant (SIG)
Title: E-Portfolio facilitating awareness and recognition of Canadian linguistic diversity
2,882 CAD

2010-2012
Title: The role of empathy in Second Language Education: Exploring literacy narratives
10,000CAD

Dr. Piccardo was awarded a Connaught New Scholar Grant for a research project on the role of empathy in second language comprehension. The project has been conducted in Canada and in France in collaboration with Dr. Jolle Aden. The research has been successfully completed and a publication is in preparation.

Dr. Piccardo was project leader of a one year research project on ways teachers integrate new information communication technologies in their French as Second Language classes. This research project was funded by a research contract with RK Publishing. A research report and a publication were issued with the results of the project.

2008-2011
European Modern Language Center: Council of Europe
Title: Encouraging the Culture of Evaluation among Professionals (ECEP): The case of language teachers
98,000 €

Dr. Piccardo was the coordinator of the four-year project ECEP (Encouraging the Culture of Evaluation among Professionals) of the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe in Graz, Austria. Two books (one in English and one in French) were produced and a dedicated website containing over 100 worksheets for teacher developers working on the CEFR (http://ecep.ecml.at)

Professional Activities

Dr. Piccardo served as an elected member of the Graduate Education Council (GEC) at UofT. She is also a member of the CTL Graduate Students' Awards Committee.

Dr. Piccardo was the Editor-in-Chief of the Academic Journal, Synergies Europe from 2005 to 2012.

Dr. Piccardo has held the following Executive Positions:

2006-2009: Member (elected) of the Board of directors of the IUFM later of the Universit Joseph Fourier to which the IUFM presently belongs
1996-2004: Member (elected) of the national council of ANILS, (Associazione Nazionale Insegnanti Lingue Straniere) and local coordinator
2002-2004: Local coordinator of a project of the Italian Ministry of Education for introducing NICT in teaching (district of Savona).
2000-2004: Member of the Board of directors and the executive pedagogical staff of the Instituto tecnico commerciale P.Boselli Savona (secondary school where I worked as language teacher)

Other Information

Dr. Piccardo is member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers